I may not have realized it while watching STAR TREK BEYOND, but by the film’s end, I noticed a certain someone missing from the Enterprise crew, and that was Carol Marcus, one of the pivotal characters in STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. By that film’s end, it seemed like Carol had become one of the gang and was destined to go on more adventures with Captain Kirk and the rest of the crew. However, as is evidenced by BEYOND, that wasn’t the case.

So what happened to Carol? Did she die some point between films? Did she betray the crew and run off to plan more devious schemes (okay, I didn’t really believe that)? Well, apparently nothing too exciting. Talking with STAR TREK PODCAST, STAR TREK BEYOND co-writer and actor Simon Pegg addressed why Carol wasn’t present in the film.

“With this it felt like we would under-serve her if we included her, she might end up feeling like she hadn’t been given the amount of screen-time she deserves, so rather than bring her in and just have her be a supporting role, like, have her not be in this one, and when the time comes [bring her back], the worst thing to do would be to have her in the film and have that character be killed, and that felt like a cynical thing to do. We thought rather than have Carol Marcus not be used to a reasonable capacity, let’s just not include her, have her be alive, in canon, and ready to come back at any time.”

As anti-climactic and disappointing this response is, it does make a lot of sense. More than any of the other TREK films before it, BEYOND had a hard time juggling all the different characters — especially given the breakneck speed at which the film moved. As such, adding another character into the mix would’ve proved difficult. Let’s face it, at the end of the day, it seemed like Pegg and his co-writer had a hard time finding much for a lot of the crew to in the time they were given. Better to save up Carol for a more pivotal role in a slower-paced film.

What do you think of Pegg’s comments? Do you think this was the right choice? Let us know in the comments down below!

STAR TREK BEYOND is in theaters now!

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SOURCE: STAR TREK PODCAST (via The Playlist)